United States life tables for 1979-81.

This paper presents age-specific mortality rates and expectations of life for the official decennial United States Life Tables for 1979-81. Analysis of these data shows trends and relationships by age sex and color. As in the past mortality rates for males were higher than for females at all ages especially at the young-adult ages. Mortality rates for other-than-white individuals were significantly higher than for white persons at all ages except the very highest ages with the differential being the largest in the 30s and 40s. The authors also examine U.S. mortality trends since the first official decennial life tables were prepared in the early 1900s. Comparisons are made with the situation in selected industrialized countries around the world. (EXCERPT)